Epilepsy surgery in Korea began as early as in the 1940s and continued to develop through the second half of the 20th century. Introduction of neuroimaging modalities, establishment of epilepsy monitoring units and the epilepsy team approach contributed to the rapid development. �or about 300�- 400 operations carried out yearly��, t�here i��s at �prese�nt suffi���cien�t n�umb ��er of ep�ileps� y surg�ery cen�ters�� an�d q�ualifi��ed neurosurgeons in Korea. However, Korean neurosurgeons should adapt themselves to changing recent trends. Etiologies of epilepsy have dramatically changed from head trauma and infectious diseases to tumors and developmental abnormalities. Although traditional resective surgery still constitutes the main bulk of the operations, new therapeutic procedures based on neuro�modulation are emerging as alternative treatments. There should also be participation in basic science research which would leads to future innovations in treatment of epilepsy.

No abstract available.
Nails

No abstract available.
Humans ; Infant, Newborn*

The perioperative use of anticonvulsants in patients receiving craniotomy for various CNS diseases has been a routine practice in neurosurgery. However, there have been no unified evidence-based guidelines for the perioperative use of anticonvulsants. We searched for published studies related to this subject in MEDLINE and reviewed them. Several randomized controlled studies were regarded as more important because they could provide strong evidence. The conclusions are as follows. First, postoperative seizures are serious problems in neurosurgical practice and should be strictly controlled. Second, anticonvulsants could decrease the occurrence of postoperative seizures. Third, the therapeutic serum levels of anticonvulsants are of utmost importance in the prevention of postoperative seizures. Fourth, valproic acid has no advantage over phenytoin in the prevention of postoperative seizures.
Anticonvulsants* ; Central Nervous System Diseases ; Craniotomy ; Humans ; Neurosurgery* ; Phenytoin ; Seizures ; Valproic Acid

Epilepsy associated with brain tumors (EABT) is a multi-faceted disease that both oncological and epileptological concerns should be taken into consideration. Usually, it is characterized by chronic drug-resistant epilepsy with a low-grade brain tumor in the cerebrum. However, the distinction of typical EABT and simple brain tumors with short-term epilepsy is obscure. We need a working formulation based on the patient's burden in both oncological and epileptological aspects. The diagnosis of EABT is straightforward, but the treatment should be more complex. Medical treatment with anticonvulsants aloneseems tobe anoutdated remedy for EABT because of the risk of tumor growth and malignant progression in some patients as well as the expected favorable seizure control after surgery. Surgical treatment of EABT has resulted in seizure-free state in about 80% of patients. Complete resection of the tumor is an important prognostic factor in seizure control and probably also in tumor control. Recently, many authors emphasized a lesion-directed surgery aimed at a complete tumor removal in EABT. However, in some patients, especially in patients with dual pathology, electrophysiological studies have to be thoroughly applied. For the treatment of EABT in the temporal lobe, more sophisticated surgical strategy is required. A lesionectomy saving the uninterrupted hippocampus could be applied for selected patients. Further research is strongly needed for better understanding and treatment of EABT and low-grade glioma.
Anticonvulsants ; Brain ; Brain Neoplasms ; Cerebrum ; Epilepsy ; Glioma ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Seizures ; Temporal Lobe

BACKGROUND: It is often stated that ingestion of food rich in histamine can result in absorption of sufficient histamine to provoke signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction. To date, No study has systemically examined in Korea. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the histamine content of 29 common dishes. METHODS: The histamine content of food was measured using high performance liquid chromatography and post column derivation system with fluorescence detector. RESULTS: Sausages (3,572 mg/kg) showed the highest histamine level and fish such as tuna (2,927 mg/kg) and mackerel (2,467 mg/kg) also showed high levels of histamine. From the fruit and vegetable group, spinach (1,358 mg/kg) showed the highest level, containing a moderate amount of histamine. From the dairy product group, cheese (533 mg/kg) showed a moderate amount of histamine. From the group containing caffeine green tea (878 mg/kg) showed a slightly high histamine level. The alcohol group showed relatively low levels of histamine. CONCLUSION: High histamine concentrations were found in fish, meat and processed meat, spinach, and green tea, etc. These results are in agreement with those of previous studies of histamine content of food in other countries. This is the first work that has evaluated histamine content in food in Korea. Further studies including other Korean food will be required.
Absorption ; Caffeine ; Cheese ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Dairy Products ; Eating ; Fluorescence ; Fruit ; Histamine* ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea* ; Meat ; Perciformes ; Spinacia oleracea ; Tea ; Tuna ; Vegetables

PURPOSE: Surgeons perform either symmetrical lateral rectus recession or monocular recession of the lateral rectus and resection of the medial rectus (recession/resection procedure) in order to correct simulated divergence excess intermittent exotropia, X(T). We compared the results of these two procedures using surgical outcomes. METHODS: A total of 49 patients with simulated divergence excess X(T) were included in this study; among these 49, 32 underwent symmetrical lateral rectus recession and 17 underwent recession/resection procedure. Surgery was defined successful when the horizontal angle of deviation was within 8 prism diopters or less at distance and near at the last follow-up. RESULTS: The rate of success at the time of final follow-up was 68.8% in those who underwent symmetrical lateral rectus recession and 70.6% in those who underwent recession/resection procedure, showing no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p>0.05). Furthermore, there were also no significant differences in the undercorrection, overcorrection rates and the decrease in the deviation at distance and near between the two surgical procedures (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: No difference was present between the two methods examined in this study; thus, either of the two methods would be suitable for the correction of simulated divergence excess X(T).
Exotropia* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans

Silicone gel breast implants may induce local(fibrous capsular contracture) or systemic(rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, etc) complications. The exact mechanism of fibrous capsular contracture has not been fully understood. In the present study, we tried to find out the effect of silicone gel on the fibroblast proliferation which has been known as a major contributing factor in fibrous capsular contracture formation. In vitro, activated macrophages are known to secrete monokines which affect fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. And tumour necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6(IL-6), which were released by macrophages, were reported as potent stimulator of fibroblast proliferation. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of macrophages and tumour necrosis factor-alphaor interleukin-6 in the interaction of fibroblasts and silicone gel. We designed four groups, two experimental and two control, using Institute for Cancer Research(ICR) mouse peritioneal macrophage and silicone gel. For the preparation of the conditioned medium of macrophages, peritoneal macrophages were prepared and cultured for 24 hours on the silicone gel-coated and naked (not coated) surface [silicone gel-macrophage conditioned medium(SCM; experimental group) and normal polystyrene-macrophage conditioned medium(NCM; control group) respectively]. To correct the effect of 10% fetal bovine serum which was included in Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium and draw the effect only by macrophages, the RPMI 1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum was cultured by the same method on the silicone gel-coated and naked surface (silicone gel-macrophage free conditioned medium; SFM and normal polystyrene-macrophage free conditioned medium; NFM respectively). Each conditioned medium was added onto NIH 3T3 fibroblasts culture at a final 25% concentration of total culture medium and followed by the cultivation for 24 hours. For antibody neutralizing experiments, each conditioned medium was preincubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody or polyclonal rat anti-mouse IL-6 antibody for 1 hour and then, conditioned medium with antibody was added to the culture medium of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts by the same method. After 24 hours cultivation, total number of viable fibroblast(cell growth), DNA synthesis and collagen synthesis of fibroblasts with each medium were measured by sulforhodamine B(SRB) assay, 3H-thymidine and 3H-proline incorporation respectively. The results were as follows: 1. In the experiment about the effect of the conditioned medium on the fibroblast activity, the experimental group(SCM), compared with the control group(NCM), showed a significant increase of the cell growth (p<0.01), a significant decrease of DNA synthesis(p<0.001), but no significant difference in the collagen synthesis. 2. In the experiment about the effect of polyclonal rabbit anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody on the fibroblast activity, after the addition of antibody the experimental group, compared with the control group, showed a significant decrease of the cell growth(p<0.001), a significant increase of DNA synthesis(p<0.01), but no significant difference in the collagen syn thesis. 3. In the experiment about the effect of polyclonal rat anti-mouse IL-6 antibody on the fibroblast activity, after the addition of antibody the experimental group, compared with the control group, showed a significant decrease of the cell growth(p<0.001), a significant increase of DNA synthesis(p<0.0001), but no significant difference in the collagen synthesis. In conclusion, culture supernatants (conditioned medium) of peritoneal macrophages, activated by silicone gel, stimulate the NIH 3T3 fibroblast proliferation. TNF-alpha and IL-6, products of macrophage, are involved in the stimulation of NIH 3T3 fibroblast proliferation in an in vitro condition.
Animals ; Arthritis ; Breast Implants ; Collagen ; Contracture ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; DNA ; Fibroblasts* ; Interleukin-6* ; Macrophages ; Macrophages, Peritoneal* ; Mice ; Monokines ; Necrosis ; Rats ; Scleroderma, Systemic ; Silicone Gels* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

OBJECTIVE: Teeth discoloration is a rare orthodontic complication. The aim of this study was to report the clinical progression of discoloration during orthodontic treatment. METHODS: Discolored teeth, detected during orthodontic treatment between January 2003 and December 2012 by a single dentist using similar techniques and appliances, were analyzed. RESULTS: The total number of teeth that showed discoloration was 28. Progression of discoloration was evaluated in only 24 teeth that were observed without any treatment. During the observation period, the discoloration “improved” in 8 of the 24 teeth (33.3%) and was “maintained” in 16 (66.6%). The electric pulp test performed at the time of initial detection of discoloration showed 14.3% positivity, which improved to 21.4% at the final follow-up. None of the initial and final follow-up radiographic findings showed any abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: When teeth discoloration is detected during orthodontic treatment, observation as an initial management is recommended over immediate treatments.
Dentists ; Esthetics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Tooth*

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to obtain information on the prognosis and treatment of the low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three patients with low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma treated in kangnam St. Mary's hospital between 1993 and 2002 were evaluated. The clinical stage, management and outcome were analyzed. RESULTS: Those patients with low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma had a long overall survival in the presence of receiving hormonal therapy after initial surgery. Two are alive with disease-free status, one has shown a partial response to hormonal treatment. CONCLUSION: Surgery is the primary treatment for low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma. High dose hormonal replacement as adjuvant therapy will be associated with a lengthened overall survival in patients with low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma.
Humans ; Prognosis ; Sarcoma, Endometrial Stromal*